Germany: Poll finds that 26% of voters would not back a gay Chancellor

The German public were polled after an MP raised doubts about how much support there was for ethnic non-German Vice Chancellor Philipp Rösler

A poll in Germany found that while the majority did not mind the idea, a quarter of voters said they would not support a gay person as the nation’s leader.

According to YouGov, 26% of German voters polled said they would not support a gay Chancellor. 14% of people said they liked the idea, while 46% said it would not matter to them.

The poll also questioned whether voters would support an ethnic non-German in the role, producing similar figures: 29% opposed the idea while 11% supported it.

The poll was carried out following controversial comments that were made about the public’s acceptance of Vice Chancellor Philipp Rösler, who has an ethnic Vietnamese background.

Mr Rösler’s fellow Free Democratic Party member Hesse Jörg-Uwe Hahn said last week that he doubted whether Germany would accept “an Asian-looking vice chancellor” for much longer. Other FDP politicians came forward to say that they had heard voters make racist remarks about Mr Rösler, prompting the YouGov poll.

The poll found that 11% of people agreed with Mr Hahn that Mr Rösler’s ethnicity was “problematic”, while 79% said it made no difference.

The poll was conducted between February 8 and February 12, and involved 1,037 German voters.